INBOX: Bie Jambé – Repeat ON Reverse ON Repeat OFF Reverse OFF (Hugo Roelandtprijs 2023)

Bie Jambé developed this video installation for her Master of Fine Arts/Costume Design at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp.

In Repeat ON Reverse ON Repeat OFF Reverse OFF, Bie Jambé explores her memories of the compulsive acts she performed as a child.

She describes those compulsive acts and the emotions associated with them as follows: “The impossible: letting go of control. I want to sleep but keep repeating the number 6 – on the tap, the door, the stairs, the cupboards, the mirror, the ceiling. The clock keeps on ticking, and I am busy making seemingly useless moves. A homely environment that feels warm, but then doesn’t. Sometimes gloomy and perilous, you prowl through the house, overwhelmed by fear. Everything will be fine, everything will be fine, everything will be fine. Never right, never right enough, even the one time it almost felt right, it had to be done one more time.”

As an artist, she seeks a performative form to translate those feelings of control, loneliness, and obsession. This leads her to create video work in which she controls the camera angles and uses self-designed costumes in solo performances at specific locations. Often, it is not noticeable that someone is struggling with compulsive actions or thoughts, as they find various ways to hide them. In this work, however, they are not hidden. Bie deliberately places her repetitive actions in the public space: a fresh green meadow.